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Title: Speculum Amantis
Love Poems, from Rare Songbooks and Miscellanies of the
Seventeenth Century
Author: Various
Editor: A. H. Bullen
Release Date: July 22, 2014 [EBook #46359]
Language: English
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SPECULUM AMANTIS.
τὁ ῥὀδον ἀκμἀζει βαιὀν χρονὁν' ἢν δἑ παρἐλθυ,
ζητων εὐρἠσεισ οὐ ῥὀδον, ἀλλἁ βἀτον.
Incert.
The season of the rose is brief, make haste to
pluck your posies;
Another day you'll chance to find bare thorns
where bloomed the roses.
SPECULUM AMANTIS:
LOVE-POEMS
FROM RARE SONG-BOOKS AND MISCELLANIES
OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
EDITED BY
A. H. BULLEN.
LONDON:
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
1889.
G
Note.—Five Hundred Copies only printed, each numbered as issued.
No. 133
Warning and Welcome.
RAVE moralist, with eyes a-squint,
And pucker'd mouth, pack hence! away!
Your heart is hard as any flint:
Avaunt! Love's feast is spread to-day.
And you, coy maiden, come not nigh,
Lest wanton rhyme assail your ears:
Wait till your chaste zone you untie
And Hymen put to flight your fears.
But, ho! all ye whose brisker veins
Glow with Dan Cupid's genial fire,
Post hitherwards, 'tis worth your pains,
And harken to our tuneful quire.
PREFACE.
In sending out this little anthology of seventeenth-century love-verses, I must say a few words by way of explanation or
apology. Some eighteen months ago I published a collection of "Lyrics from the Song-books of the Elizabethan Age" (J.
C. Nimmo), and recently I issued a second collection, "More Lyrics from the Song-books of the Elizabethan Age" (J.
C. Nimmo). Those volumes were addressed to all classes of readers. They may lie on a drawing-room table without
offence. Philemon may give them to his Amanda on her birthday with the full assurance that he will run no risk of
bringing a blush to the fair nymph's cheek. I was careful to exclude from those collections any poems that passed the
bounds of conventional propriety. In the seventeenth century those bounds were not so well defined as in the present
age. John Attey, in 1622, dedicated his "First Book of Airs" to "The Right Honourable John, Earl of Bridgewater,
Viscount Brackley, and Baron of Ellesmere; and the truly Noble and Virtuous Lady, Frances, Countess of
Bridgewater." Among Attey's songs are the audacious verses, "My days, my months, my years," which I have given in
the present collection (page 15). A noble and virtuous lady now-a-days would be justly incensed if she found such a
lyric in a song-book of which she had accepted the dedication; but we may be sure that John Attey's patroness did not
withdraw her favour from the composer, or express herself shocked at his temerity. Manners have changed, and "My
days, my months, my years" is no longer a song for the drawing-room; but snugly stowed away with its fellows on a top
shelf in the library it can do no harm.
In the present volume I have gathered together from the song-books the songs that could find no place in the former
collections, and I have included several poems from rare miscellanies of the seventeenth century.
Although some of the poems here collected will be familiar to students, I am confident that a considerable portion of the
anthology is unknown. Sir Walter Raleigh is a prominent figure in English literature. The late Archdeacon Hannah's
edition of Raleigh's poems is a valuable piece of work; and Sir Egerton Brydges, in collecting what he supposed to be
Raleigh's poems, showed commendable industry, but scant judgment. I therefore count myself fortunate in having
discovered the characteristic poem, "Nature that wash'd her hands in milk" (page 76), which escaped the researches of
previous enquirers. The last stanza of that poem, "Oh cruel time, which takes in trust," with a couple of lines tacked on,
was published in Raleigh's Remains, where it is said to have been "found in his bible in the Gatehouse at Westminster."
Every reader has that stanza by heart, but the complete poem—as given in the Harleian MS.—is printed for the first
time.
Aurelian Townsend is a poet about whom I have often felt curiosity. He was the friend of Carew, and Suckling
introduces him into The Session of the Poets. From one of the Malone MSS., in the Bodleian Library, I have
recovered the charming verses "To the Lady May;" and I can lay my hand on other poems of Townsend which have
never seen the light.[1] The poems by Henry Ramsay (page 118), of whom I know nothing, of Bishop Andrewes (page
121), and of J. Paulin (page 127), are not hackneyed; and I might refer to many others.
The finest of all Cartwright's poems is here—the magnificent "Song of Dalliance"—beginning, "Hark, my Flora! Love
doth call us." It is ascribed to Cartwright in the unique miscellany (preserved in the Bodleian), Sportive Wit: the Muses'
Merriment, 1656, but is not printed in his Works. Cartwright had a great reputation among his contemporaries. "My
son, Cartwright," said Ben Jonson, "writes all like a man." "Cartwright was the utmost man could come to" in the
opinion of that excellent prelate, Bishop Fell. All the wits of the age paid tributes to his memory. Anthony-à-Wood and
Lloyd rush into raptures about him. After reading the various panegyrics on his poems it is a sad disappointment to turn
to the poems themselves. But if Cartwright wrote other poems equal to "Hark, my Flora!"—not for publication (for he
was "the most florid and seraphical preacher in the University," and seraphical preachers should not publish Songs of
Dalliance), but to be circulated in manuscript among his friends—then the esteem in which his poetical abilities were
held would be intelligible.
Among the rare miscellanies from which I have quoted are Wits Interpreter, 1655, 1671; The Academy of
Compliments, 1650; The Marrow of Compliments, 1655; Sportive Wit, 1656; The Mysteries of Love and
Eloquence (edited by Milton's nephew, Edward Phillips), 1658; Wit and Drollery, 1661; The New Academy of
Compliments, 1671; The Windsor Drollery, 1672; and The Bristol Drollery, 1674. Many poems are from MSS.
preserved in the Bodleian Library and the British Museum. The Rev. J. W. Ebsworth, with his usual kindness, has
helped me when my knowledge or memory has been at fault. No man has so intimate a knowledge as Mr. Ebsworth of
the floating literature of the second half of the seventeenth century.
Though not a few of the poems in the present volume could not be included in anthologies intended for general
circulation, I must yet be allowed to state that I have reprinted nothing that is offensively gross. There is a great deal of
dirt—nasty worthless trash—in the miscellanies of the Restoration, and with this garbage I have not chosen to meddle.
Dalkeith, N.B.,
August, 1888.
INDEX OF FIRST LINES.
PAGE
After long service and a thousand vows (Bristol Drollery)
19
As Chloe o'er the meadow past (Sir Charles Sedley)
122
As I traversed to and fro (Academy of Compliments)
36
As youthful day put on his best (Westminster Drollery)
63
Away, away! call back what you have said (Corkine)
88
Be thou joyful, I am jolly (Windsor Drollery)
87
Beauty, since you so much desire (Campion)
6
Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth lie (Howell)
32
Chloris, forbear awhile (Sportive Wit)
93
Chloris, when I to thee present (Westminster Drollery)
41
Chloris saw me sigh and tremble (Vinculum Societatis)
7
Come, be my Valentine (Bishop Andrewes)
121
Come, my Clarinda, we'll consume (Paulin)
127
Come, Phillis, let's to yonder grove (Bristol Drollery)
7
Constant wives are comforts to men's lives (Add. MS. 22601)
3
Cupid is an idle toy (Folly in Print)
4
Cupid, thou art a sluggish boy (Mysteries of Love and Eloquence)
42
Dear Castadorus, let me rise (Jordan)
53
Dear, I must do (Folly in Print)
25
Do not ask me, charming Phillis (New Academy of Compliments)
43
Do not rack my bleeding heart (Ramsay)
118
Down in a garden sat my dearest love (Wit's Interpreter)
9
Dunces in love, how long shall we (Rawlinson MS., Poet. 117)
10
Fair Chloris in a gentle slumber lay (Songs and Poems of Love and Drollery)
94
Fairest, if you roses seek (Bristol Drollery)
72
Fairest thing that shines below (New Academy of Compliments)
109
Gaze not on thy beauty's pride (Carew)
84
Go and count her better hours (Rawlinson MS. Poet. 206)
67
Go, fickle man, and teach the moon to range (Hammond)
124
Hark, my Flora! Love doth call us (Cartwright)
10
He or she that hopes to gain (Harl. MS. 6918)
120
He that hath no mistress must not wear a favour (Corkine)
44
He that intends to woo a maid (Academy of Compliments)
14
Her dainty palm I gently prest (Marrow of Compliments)
45
I dream'd we both were in a bed (Herrick)
40
I have followed thee a year at least (New Academy of Compliments)
107
I pray thee, sweet John, away (Greaves)
46
I swear by muscadel (Duke of Newcastle)
47
I walk'd abroad not long ago (Wither)
101
I will not do a sacrifice (Wit Restored)
67
If any hath the heart to kill (Campion)
99
If my lady bid begin (Academy of Compliments)
1
If shadows be the picture's excellence (Rawlinson MS. Poet. 199)
30
In summer time when birds do sing (Harl. MS. 7322)
79
In summer time when grass was mown (Harl. MS. 791)
82
Know, falsest man, as my love was (Hammond)
125
Know, Sylvia, that your curious twist (Songs and Poems of Love and Drollery)
106
Ladies, whose marble hearts despise (Munsey)
78
Ladies, you that seem so nice (Henry Lawes' Airs and Dialogues)
98
Lady, on your eyes I gazed (Wit's Recreations)
115
Let common beauties have the power (Harl. MS. 6917)
2
Like to the wealthy island thou shalt lie (New Academy of Compliments)
13
Lose no time nor youth, but be (Mysteries of Love and Eloquence)
73
Love in rambling once astray (Wit at a Venture)
68
Maids they are grown so coy of late (Marrow of Compliments)
97
Methought the other night (Jones)
34
My days, my months, my years (Attey)
15
My love hath vowed he will forsake me (Campion)
95
My love in her attire doth show her wit (Davison's Poetical Rhapsody)
12
My mistress sings no other song (Jones)
16
Naked love did to thine eye (Sherburne)
114
Nature, that wash'd her hands in milk (Sir Walter Rawleigh)
76
Nay pish! nay phew! nay faith and will you? fie! (Sportive Wit)
49
Nay, Silvia, now you're cruel grown (Rawlinson MS. Poet. 94)
21
No, Sylvia, 'tis not your disdain (Songs and Poems of Love and Drollery)
39
O how oftentimes have I (Harl. MS. 7332)
111
Once I must confess I loved (Wit Restored)
83
Once and no more: so said my life (Wit's Interpreter)
29
Phillis, for shame, let us improve (Westminster Drollery)
105
Pish, modest sipper, to't again (New Academy of Compliments)
69
Poor Celia once was very fair (Flatman)
90
Pretty nymph, why always blushing (Wit's Cabinet)
110
I
Shall we die (Westminster Drollery)
74
Sighs, blow out those flames in me (Rawlinson MS. Poet. 199)
119
Silvia, now your scorn give over (Vinculum Societatis)
96
Sleepy, my dear? Yes, yes, I see (Wit's Interpreter)
17
Sol shines not th[o]rough all the year so bright (Bristol Drollery)
18
Some men desire spouses (Weelkes)
104
Still to affect, still to admire (Harl. MS. 6917)
3
Sweet, exclude me not, nor be divided (Campion)
52
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane, I love thee wondrous well (New Academy of Compliments)
48
Sweet Philomel, in groves and desarts haunting (Jones)
62
Take Time, my dear, ere Time takes wing (Melpomene)
102
There is not half so warm a fire (Choice Drollery)
71
Thine's fair, facetious, all that can (Wit's Interpreter)
28
Though that no god may thee deserve (Marrow of Compliments)
60
'Tis not, dear Love, that amber twist (Wit Restored)
113
'Tis not how witty nor how free (Wit's Interpreter)
61
'Tis true your beauty, which before (Wit's Recreations)
86
To bed ye two in one united go (Baron)
117
To her whose beauty doth excel (Wits Interpreter)
75
Two lovers sat lamenting (Corkine)
91
Under the willow-shades they were (Davenant)
89
Underneath this myrtle shade (Windsor Drollery)
26
What though Flora frowns on me (Tixall Poetry)
108
When doth Love set forth desire? (Academy of Compliments)
100
When first Amyntas sued for a kiss (D'Urfey)
103
When I do love I wish to taste the fruit (Harl. MS. 6917)
5
When Phœbus first did Daphne love (John Dowland)
55
Why is your faithful slave disdain'd (Banquet of Music)
59
Why, Nanny, quoth he. Why, Janny, quoth she. (Oxford Drollery)
23
Why should passion lead thee blind (Harl. MS. 791)
56
Would you be a man of fashion (Tixall Poetry)
116
Would you know earth's highest pleasure (Tixall Poetry)
116
Yes, I could love if I could find (Malone MS. 16)
57
You nimble dreams with cobweb wings (Sloane MS. 1792)
51
You that in the midst of night (Ashmole MS. 38)
58
Your smiles are not as other women's be (Townsend)
126
SPECULUM AMANTIS.
From The Academy of Compliments, 1650.
F[2] my lady bid begin,
Shall I say "No: 'tis a sin"?
If she bid me kiss and play,
Shall I shrink, cold fool, away?
If she clap my cheeks and spy
Little Cupids in my eye,
Gripe my hand and stroke my hair,
L
S
C
Shall I like a faint heart fear?
No, no, no: let those that lie
In dismal prison, and would die,
Despair and fear; let those that cry
They are forsaken and would fly,
Quit their fortunes; mine are free:
Hope makes me hardy, so does she.
From Harl. MS. 6917. fol. 38.
ET common beauties have the power
To make one love-sick for an hour,
Perhaps for one whole day or two;
But so to captivate a heart
As it should never, never part,
None hath that art
But only you.
Let meaner beauties have the skill,
By tempering hopes with fears, to kill
And by degrees a heart undo;
But with a sweet, yet tyrant, eye
At once to bid one look and die,
None hath that power
But only you.
Fair wonder, to those charming eyes
A heart I fain would sacrifice,
Had I but e'er a one in store;
But having lost mine long before,
Well may I sigh, wish, and adore,
But for my life
Can die no more.
From Harl. MS. 6917.
A Motion to Pleasure.
TILL to affect, still to admire,
Yet never satisfy desire
With touch of hand, or lip, or that
Which pleaseth best (I name not what),—
Like Tantalus I pining die,
Taking Love's dainties at the eye.
Nature made nothing but for use,
And, fairest, 'twere a gross abuse
To her best work if you it hold
Unused, like misers' ill-got gold,
Or keep it in a virgin scorn,
Like rich robes that are seldom worn.
From Add. MS. 22601.
ONSTANT wives are comforts to men's lives,
Drawing a happy yoke without debate;
A playfellow that far off all grief drives;
A steward, early that provides and late:
Faithful and chaste, sober, mild, loving, trusty,
Nurse to weak age and pleasure to the lusty.
C
W
B
From Folly in Print, or a Book of Rhymes,
1667.
Of Love.
UPID[3] is an idle toy,
Never was there such a boy:
If there were, let any show
Or his quiver or his bow,
Or the wound by him he got
By a broken arrow shot.
Money, Money, Money makes men bow;
That's the only Cupid now.
Whilst the world continued good,
And men loved for flesh and blood,
Men about them wore a dart
Which did win a woman's heart;
And the women, great and small,
With a certain thing they call
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, caught the men:
This was th' only Cupid then.
From Harl. MS. 6917, fol. 87.
HEN[4] I do love I wish to taste the fruit,
And to attain to what my hopes aspire;
Refusal's better than a lingering suit,
Long hopes do dull and senseless make desire:
And in most desperate case doth he remain
That's sick to death, yet senseless of his pain.
Hope is the bloom, fruition is the fruit;
Hope promises, enjoying is content;
Hope pleads, fruition's an obtained suit;
Enjoying's sweet when hope and fears are spent:
Hopes are uncertain, past pleasures leave some taste,
But sweet fruition always pleaseth best.
From Thomas Campion's Fourth Book of Airs
(circ. 1617).
EAUTY,[5] since you so much desire
To know the place of Cupid's fire,
About you somewhere doth it rest,
Yet never harbour'd in your breast,
Nor gout-like in your heel or toe:
What fool would seek love's flame so low?
But a little higher, but a little higher,
There, there, O there lies Cupid's fire.
Think not when Cupid most you scorn
Men judge that you of ice were born;
For, though you cast love at your heel,
His fury yet sometime you feel:
And whereabouts if you would know,
I tell you still not in your toe:
But a little higher, but a little higher,
There, there, O there lies Cupid's fire.
From The Bristol Drollery, 1674.
C
C
D
OME, Phillis, let's to yonder grove,
That I may tell thee how I love;
And how I've suffer'd every day
Since thou hast stol'n my heart away;
How many nights I've lain awake
And sigh'd away for Phillis' sake.
This, Phillis, this shall be our talk
Whilst hand in hand we gently walk;
Then down we'll sit in yonder shade
A myrtle has for lovers made;
And when I've called thee duck and dear,
And wooed thee with a sigh or tear,
If love, or pity on thy swain,
Move Phillis' heart to cure my pain,
Then like two billing turtles we
Will do what none but Love shall see.
From Vinculum Societatis, or the Tie of
Good Company, 1687.
HLORIS saw me sigh and tremble,
And then ask'd why I did so;
Love like mine can ill dissemble:—
Chloris 'tis for love of you,
For those pretty tempting graces
Of your smiling lips and eyes,
For those pressing close embraces
When your snowy breasts do rise;
For those joys of which the trial
Only can instruct your heart
What you lose by your denial,
When Love draws his pleasing dart;
For those kisses in perfection
Which a wanton soul like mine,
Form'd by Cupid's own direction,
Could infuse too into thine;
For those shapes, my lovely Chloris,
And a thousand charming things,
For which monarchs might implore you
To beget a race of kings;
And for which I fain would whisper,
But my heart is still afraid,—
Yet 'tis that young ladies wish for
Every night they go to bed.
From John Cotgrave's Wit's Interpreter,
1655.
OWN[6] in a garden sat my dearest love,
Her skin more soft than down of swan,
More tender-hearted than the turtle dove
And far more kind than bleeding pelican.
I courted her; she rose and blushing said,
"Why was I born to live and die a maid?"
With that I plucked a pretty marigold,
Whose dewy leaves shut up when day is done:
"Sweeting," I said, "arise, look and behold,
A pretty riddle I'll to thee unfold:
These leaves shut in as close as cloistered nun,
Yet will they open when they see the sun."
"What mean you by this riddle, sir?" she said;
D
H
"I pray expound it." Then I thus begun:
"Are not men made for maids and maids for men?"
With that she changed her colour and grew wan.
"Since that this riddle you so well unfold,
Be you the sun, I'll be the marigold."
Rawlinson Poetry MS., 117, fol. 144.
UNCES in love, how long shall we
Be poring on our A. B. C.?
For such are kisses, which torment
Rather than give my self-content;
Letters from which you scarce will prove
The wisest scholars can spell love.
What though the lily of your hand
Or coral lip I may command?
It is but like him up to th' chin
Whose mouth can touch but take not in.
From Sportive Wit: the Muses' Merriment,
1656.
ARK,[7] my Flora! Love doth call us
To that strife that must befall us.
He has robb'd his mother's myrtles
And hath pull'd her downy turtles.
See, our genial posts are crown'd,
And our beds like billows rise;
Softer[8] combat's nowhere found,
And who loses wins the prize.
Let not dark nor shadows fright thee;
Thy limbs of lustre they will light thee.
Fear not any can surprise us,
Love himself doth now disguise us.
From thy waist the girdle throw:
Night and darkness both dwell here:
Words or actions who can know,
Where there's neither eye nor ear?
Shew thy bosom and then hide it;
License touching and then chide it;
Give a grant and then forbear it,
Offer something and forswear it;
Ask where all our shame is gone;
Call us wicked wanton men;
Do as turtles, kiss and groan;
Say[9] "We ne'er shall meet again."
I can hear thee curse, yet chase thee;
Drink thy tears, yet still embrace thee;
Easy riches is no treasure;
She that's willing spoils the pleasure.
Love bids learn the wrestlers'[10] fight;
Pull and struggle whilst[11] ye twine;
Let me use my force to-night,
The next conquest shall be thine.
From Davison's Poetical Rhapsody, 1602.
Madrigal.
M
L
H
M
Y love in her attire doth shew her wit,
It doth so well become her:
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For winter, spring, and summer.
No beauty she doth miss
When all her robes are on;
But Beauty's self she is
When all her robes are gone.
From The New Academy of Compliments,
1671.
IKE to the wealthy island thou shalt lie,
And like the sea about it I;
Thou like fair Albion to the sailors' sight,
Spreading her beauteous bosom all in white;
Like the kind Ocean I will be,
With loving arms for ever clasping thee;
But I'll embrace thee gentlier far than so
As their fresh banks soft rivers do;
Nor shall the proudest planet boast a power
Of making my full love to ebb an hour:
It never dry or low can prove
Whilst my unwasted fountain feeds my love.
Such heat and vigour shall our kisses bear
As if like doves w' engender'd there;
No bound nor rule my pleasures shall endure,
In love there's none too much an epicure.
Nought shall my hands or lips control;
I'll kiss thee through, I'll kiss thy very soul.
Yet nothing but the night our sport shall know,
Night that's both blind and silent too.
Alpheus found not a more secret trace
His loved Sicanian fountain to embrace,
Creeping so far beneath the sea,
Than I will do to enjoy and feast on thee.
Men out of wisdom, women out of pride,
The pleasant thefts of love do hide.
That may secure thee, but thou hast yet from me
A more infallible security;
For there's no danger I should tell
The joys which are to me unspeakable.
From The Academy of Compliments, 1650.
E that intends to woo a maid
With youthful heat, must shun the shade.
When Flora's gardens are i' th' prime
Let him and her pluck May and Time:[12]
There, where the sun doth shine, birds sing,
Let them two both kiss and fling,
Till summer's fairest carpet spread
Yields them a green and pleasant bed:
If lovers there would strive together,
Chastity would not weigh one feather.
From John Attey's First Book of Airs, 1622.
Y days, my months, my years
I spend about a moment's gain,
M
S
A joy that in th' enjoying ends,
A fury quickly slain;
A frail delight, like that wasp's life
Which now both frisks and flies,
And in a moment's wanton strife
It faints, it pants, it dies.
And when I charge, my lance in rest,
I triumph in delight,
And when I have the ring transpierced
I languish in despite;
Or like one in a lukewarm bath,
Light-wounded in a vein,
Spurts out the spirits of his life
And fainteth without pain.
From Robert Jones' First Book of Airs, 1601.
Y mistress sings no other song,
But still complains I did her wrong;
Believe her not, it was not so,
I did but kiss her and let her go.
And now she swears I did,—but what?
Nay, nay, I must not tell you that.
And yet I will, it is so sweet
As teehee tahha when lovers meet.
But women's words they are heedless,
To tell you more it is needless;
I ran and caught her by the arm,
And then I kissed her,—this was no harm.
But she, alas! is angry still,
Which sheweth but a woman's will:
She bites the lip and cries "Fie, fie!"
And, kissing sweetly, away she doth fly.
Yet sure her looks bewrays content,
And cunningly her brawls[13] are meant,
As lovers use to play and sport
When time and leisure is too-too short.
From John Cotgrave's Wit's Interpreter,
1655.
To his Mistress desirous to go to Bed.
LEEPY, my dear? yes, yes, I see
Morpheus is fallen in love with thee;
Morpheus, my worst of rivals, tries
To draw the curtains of thine eyes,
And fans them with his wing asleep;
Makes drowsy love to play bopeep.
How prettily his feathers blow
Those fleshy shuttings to and fro!
O how he makes me Tantalise
With those fair apples of thine eyes!
Equivocates and cheats me still,
Opening and shutting at his will,
Now both, now one! the doting god
Plays with thine eyes at even or odd.
S
A
My stammering tongue doubts which it might
Bid thee, good-morrow or good-night.
So thy eyes twinkle brighter far
Than the bright trembling evening star;
So a wax taper, burnt within
The socket, plays at out and in.
Thus doth Morpheus court thine eye,
Meaning there all night to lie:
Cupid and he play Whoop, All-Hid!
The eye, their bed and coverlid.
Fairest, let me thy night-clothes air;
Come, I'll unlace thy stomacher.
Make me thy maiden chamber-man,
Or let me be thy warming-pan.
O that I might but lay my head
At thy bed's feet ith' trundle-bed.
From The Bristol Drollery, 1674.
OL shines not th[o]rough all the year so bright,
As my dear Julia did the other night.
Cynthia came mask'd in an eclipse to see
What gave the world a greater light than she;
But angry soon she disappear'd and fled
Into her inner rooms, and so to bed.
I envied not Endymion's joys that night:
Far greater had I with her lustre-light.
From The Bristol Drollery, 1674.
FTER long service and a thousand vows,
To her glad lover she more kindness shows.
Oft had Amyntas with her tresses play'd
When the sun's vigour, drove 'em to a shade;
And many a time had given her a green gown,
And oft he kissed her when he had her down;
With sighs and motions he to her made known
What fain he would have done: then with a frown
She would forbid him, till the minute came
That she no longer could conceal her flame.
The am'rous shepherd, forward to espy
Love's yielding motions triumph in her eye,
With eager transport straight himself addrest
To taste the pleasures of so rich a feast:
When with resistance, and a seeming flight,
As 'twere t' increase her lover's appetite,
Unto a place where flowers thicker grew
Out of his arms as swift as air she flew:
Daphne ne'er run so light and fast as she
When from the god[14] she fled and turn'd t' a tree.
The youth pursued; nor needs he run amain,
Since she intended to be overta'en.
He dropp'd no apple nor no golden ball
To stay her flight, for she herself did fall,
Where 'mongst the flowers like Flora's self she lay
To gain more breath that she might lose't in play.
She pluck'd a flower, and at Amyntas threw
When he addressed to crop a flower too.
Then a faint strife she seemed to renew;
She smiled, she frown'd, she would and would not do.
At length o'ercome she suffers with a sigh
Her ravish'd lover use his victory,
N
W
And gave him leave to punish her delay
With double vigour in the am'rous play;
But then, alas! soon ended the delight;
For too much love had hastened[15] its flight,
And every ravish'd sense too soon awake,
Rapt up in bliss it did but now partake:
Which left the lovers in a state to prove
Long were the pains but short the joys of love.
From MS. Rawlinson Poet. 94. fol. 192.
The[16] Resolution.
AY, Silvia, now you're cruel grown;
I'll swear you most unjustly frown.
I only asked (in vain) to taste
What you denied with mighty haste;
I asked—but I'm ashamed to tell
What 'twas you took so wondrous ill—
A kiss. But with a coy disdain
You view'd my sighings and my pain;
'Twas but a civil small request,
Yet with proud looks and hand on breast,
You cried "I'm not so eager to be kiss'd,"
Put case[17] that I had loosed your gown,
And then by force had laid you down,
And with unruly hands had teased you,—
Too justly then I had displeased you.
Or had I (big with wanton joys)
Engaged you for a brace of boys,
Then basely left you full of nature,—
This would have been provoking matter.
But I, poor harmless civil I,
Begg'd for the meanest coolest joy,
And saw denial in your eye;
For with a squeamish glance you cried
"I hate the nauseous bliss."
"'Tis well," said I; "since I'm denied,
For rocks of diamonds I'll not kiss."
From Captain Wm. Hicks' Oxford Drollery,
1671.
A[18] new Song, to the New Jig-tune.
HY Nanny, quoth he. Why, Janny, quoth she,
Your will, sir?
I love thee, quoth he. If you love me, quoth she,
Do so still, sir.
I'd gi' thee, quoth he. Would you gi' me, quoth she?
But what, sir?
Why, some money, quoth he, O some money, quoth she?
Let me ha't, sir.
I'd ha' thee, quoth he. Would you ha' me, quoth she?
But where, sir?
To my chamber, quoth he. To your chamber, quoth she?
Why there, sir?
I'd kiss thee, quoth he. Would you kiss me, quoth she?
But when, sir?
Why now, quoth he. Neither now, quoth she,
Nor then, sir.
I'd hug thee, quoth he. Would you hug me, quoth she?
How much, sir?
D
U
Why a little, quoth he. 'Tis a little, quoth she;
Not a touch, sir.
I am sickish, quoth he. Are you sickish, quoth she?
But why, sir?
'Cause you slight me, quoth he. Do I slight you, quoth she?
'Tis a lie, sir.
I'm dying, quoth he. O dying, quoth she?
Are you sure on't?
'Tis certain, quoth he. Is't certain, quoth she?
There's no cure on't.
Then farewell, quoth he. Ay, and farewell, quoth she,
My true Love.
I am going, quoth he. So am I too, quoth she,
To a new love.
From Folly in Print, 1667.
A Song in Dialogue.
Strephon.
EAR, I must do.
Phillis. O I dare not.
Strephon. 'Twill not hurt you.
Phillis. No, I care not.
Strephon. Then I prithee, sweet, tell me the reason.
Phillis. Will you marry?
Strephon. Yes, to-morrow.
Phillis. Till then tarry.
Strephon. I would borrow.
Phillis. Fruit is best when gathered in season.
From The Windsor Drollery, 1672.
(After Anacreon.)[19]
NDERNEATH this myrtle shade,
On flowery beds supinely laid,
With odorous oils my head o'erflowing
And around it roses growing,
What should I do but drink away
The heat and troubles of the day?
In this more than kingly state,
Love himself shall on me wait:
Fill to me, Love! nay, fill it up,
And mingled cast into the cup
Wit and mirth, and noble fires,
Vigorous health, and gay desires.
The wheel of life no less will stay
In a smooth than rugged way;
Since it equally doth flee,
Let the motion pleasant be.
Why do we precious ointments shower,
Nobler wines why do we pour,
Beauteous flowers why do we spread
Upon the monuments of the dead?
Nothing they but dust can show
Or bones that hasten to be so.
Crown me with roses while I live,
Now your wines and ointments give:
After death I nothing crave,
Let me alive my pleasures have:
All are stoics in the grave.
T
O
I
From John Cotgrave's Wit's Interpreter,
1655.
On his Black Mistress.
HINE'S fair, facetious,[20] all that can
Delight the airy part of man:
My love is black, thou sayst, her eye
Hath something of severity.
Therefore I love: her spring will last
When all thy flowers are dead and blast
She's wisely framed, with art is made;
Your best night-pieces have most shade.
And, 'cause reserved, think'st thou not mine
Yields not as great a warmth as thine?
Her heat is inward, and she may
More pleasant be another way:
They're slow to yield, but, when they do,
You have both soul and body too.
The quicker eye and nimble tongue
Leaves footsteps for suspicion;
But in her looks and language lies
A very charm for Argus' eyes.
Now pray then tell me, and withal
Pray be not too-too partial,
Doth not one feature[21] now in mine
Appear more lovely than all thine?
No airy objects will me[22] move,
It is the sober black I love:
I love't so well that I protest
I love the blackest parts the best.
From John Cotgrave's Wit's Interpreter,
1655.
Two Kisses.
NCE and no more: so said my life,
When in my arms inchained
She unto mine her lips did move,
And so my heart she gained.
Thus done, she saith, "Away I must
For fear of being missed;
Your heart's made over but in trust;"
And so again she kissed.
From Rawlinson MS. Poet. 199.
On Mrs. Beata Poole with Black Eyes.
F shadows be the picture's excellence
And make it seem more lively to the sense;
If stars in the bright day do lose their light
And shine more glorious in the masque of night,
Why should you think, fair creature, that you lack
Perfection 'cause your eyes and hair be black?
Or that your beauty that so far exceeds
The new-sprung lilies in their maidenheads,
That cherry colour of your cheek and lips,
Should by the darkness suffer an eclipse?
Or is it fit that nature should have made
So bright a sun to shine without a shade?
It seems that nature, when she first did fancy
Your rare composure, studied necromancy;
